Mike Holmgren says he would have traded entire 2012 draft for Andrew Luck

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on September 20, 2013, 2:37 AM EST

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Mike Holmgren believes finding a franchise quarterback is of paramount importance for building a team that can consistently compete for a Super Bowl title. It was with that thought in mind that he approached Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson at the owners’ meetings last year.

During an interview with Dave “Softy” Mahler of 950 KJR-AM in Seattle, Holmgren said he was willing to offer a huge windfall to the Colts in the way of draft picks from the Cleveland Browns for the rights to draft Andrew Luck.

“I talked to (Grigson) before we made the trade (up to the No. 3 overall pick to select Trent Richardson), I said ‘I’ll give you all our draft picks for the number one pick and I’ll take Luck,'” Holmgren said.

Holmgren joked that they were both sitting by the pool and Grigson was “having one of those little drinks with an umbrella in it so I thought I could take advantage of him.”

The Browns made 10 selections in the 2012 draft after dealing away selections in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds to move up to take Richardson. It would have meant Holmgren was willing to send close to 13 picks (before other trades in the draft) to the Colts for the rights to take Luck with the first pick.

Grigson shot Holmgren down and told him they were going to take Luck. He said Grigson probably didn’t take the offer seriously, though Holmgren did put it on the table.

“I probably offered it knowing he wouldn’t take it,” Holmgren said. “If he had said OK, I probably would have choked on my offer.”

Holmgren said the Colts made the right decision in standing pat and taking Luck. One piece Holmgren added was that Grigson supposedly said that if something weird had happened with Luck, they wanted to take Richardson with the top selection.

35 responses to “Mike Holmgren says he would have traded entire 2012 draft for Andrew Luck”

Luck and Richardson are two of the classiest athletes (and people) many of us will ever see in our lives. Hard not to root for that Colts team at least just a little – even if they’re not our lifelong favorite team.

Great advise from an unemployed GM. The man did nothing his whole time in Cleveland and was spending more time drinking those umbrella drinks and wearing a Hawaiian shirt than doing anything positive for the franchise. He was a bigger disappointment than Dwight Clark. If he wouldn’t have traded all those draft picks the Browns would still have had Richardson and probably more depth.

So Holmgren is an hypocrite. He trashes the Browns for trading Richardson, who are obviously positioning themselves to draft one of the available quarterbacks next year, but says he would have given up all his picks for Luck. Holmgren is pissed because its clear he didn’t know what he was doing. No one trades up for running backs. Look at all the great running backs available in the later rounds. And he passed on a bunch of good qb’s to take Richardson. The Browns are just trying to correct his mistake, they know they aren’t going anywhere this year, and if they draft well they can be better quickly…

The reason the Browns are in this situation is due largely to the poor drafting that Holmgren did he was in charge of the rebuilding effort in Cleveland! And now he wants to criticize the new regime from discarding the plYers he drafted? Please, the Browns could have drafted Wilson or the a dolphins QB at #3 but look at them now, hitting the reset button once again…..

The Colts are a team with “good management” and know when to pull the trigger to take advantage of those franchises “that lack” sound management and make knee-jerk moves such as the Browns management did this week.

FACT…Joe Banner has never been in charge of the football side of any football franchise before Haslam allowed Banner to run the Browns.

Haslam and especially Banner are living proof, that poor management can destroy a team’s chances to win. Just two games into the season and the Browns management and their head coach have given up.

Joe Banner has done everything in his power to blow this team up …then denying it to the fans and media…what a liar !

Haslam, Banner and Chudzinski have already given up…you can’t win with people like this !

Mike Holmgren took an organization that was failing and made it so bad that it may never recover. Randy Lerner (a horrible owner) threw him the keys and he acted like a spoiled kid joyriding in Daddy’s Porsche. Holmgren loves to tell you he’s a genius, but remember he’s the guy that made Heckert pick Brandon Weeden in the first round….

Holmgren’s opinion means absolutely zero at this point. Nobody is paying him massive amounts of money any longer to further shipwreck wrecked franchises. Nobody cares what may or may not have been said poolside after the fact. Fact is, he didn’t get Luck and/or RG3. Fact is he’s gone. The details are irrelevant just as he is.

Browns fans keep this in mind. In 2012 you had all those picks and we thought the Browns had turned it around. Maybe Lombardi will do better with his 1o (J.Russell thinks not), but having all those picks doesn’t mean the organization is saved.

How different would this team look right now if they hadn’t traded up one slot to take Richardson (who they would have gotten anyway) and picked Wilson in a later round?

The thing about being willing to do whatever it takes to draft a franchise quarterback is that you have to recognize what a franchise quarterback looks like when you see them. Who cares if you have the first overall selection if you waste it? Andrew Luck was a can’t miss prospect, but then again so were Jamarcus Russell and Tim Couch.